The attack on the school in Kabul ended early Thursday, about 10 hours after it began, report the New York Times and Al Jazeera.
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“Attack on American university or any school and educational center is enmity with development, prosperity and literacy and deserve all kind of condemnation”, a school student Abdul Rauf told Xinhua. He hasn’t been able to reach either student since the initial phone call, he said.
Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said the attackers were armed with grenades and automatic weapons.
The attack, apparently the first major militant assault on a prominent university in Afghanistan, has cast a pall on the education sector, widely seen as a rare symbol of hope for the country’s burgeoning youth amid rising insecurity.
Witnesses said the explosion, possibly a suicide bomber, started the attack.
The violence came as the Taliban are escalating nationwide attacks. It has produced 29 Fulbright scholars and maintains partnerships with many US colleges, such as Stanford, Georgetown and the University of California system.
The U.S. State Department acknowledged reports Wednesday morning of the attack on an official Twitter account, posting, “Reports of attack on American University in Kabul”.
He later tweeted this Facebook message from a student, purporting to be inside the building. Nearly immediately, they heard a loud explosion.
“When we were running … we were hearing the fire of guns again and everybody was shouting ‘Let’s run, run!”
Then there were was more firing inside the campus.
She says she eventually made it out to safety.
“I left the university, but some of my classmates were still there”, Muneer said.
Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Massoud Hossaini also survived the attack.
A university student who declined to provide his name said shooting was ongoing about an hour after the initial blast.
Terrified students barricaded themselves in classrooms or leaped out of windows to escape.
“We are stuck inside our classroom and there are bursts of gunfire”, he said.
English became president of the American University in July 2015 after serving as acting president since January 2015, according to the website of the Friends of the American University of Afghanistan. “Everyone started screaming”, said Samin, who is a U.S. citizen. Shahpour, who like many Afghans goes by one name.
“We will rebuild and we will reorganize and we will restart and we will not be deterred”.
The attack on the American University comes two weeks after two university staff, an American and an Australian, were kidnapped from their vehicle by unknown gunmen. One professor was American, and one Australian. They have not been located.
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Details of the attack remain unclear but one guard was killed and 21 students were injured, said the head of Kabul Hospitals.
